Recruitment Drive: Making New Friends
by Afalstein
Summary: While on her deep-cover assignment, Annie comes back to the safehouse to find a mysterious man sitting in her main room-a wanted fugitive from the US government. What does he want? Just to be friends, he claims.
1. Acquaintances

**Acquaintances**

* * *

Annie had been in deep cover for over a month before she got her real break. And even then, it didn't have anything to do with her.

She came back to the safehouse after yet another fruitless day of tailing her target to find a pile of photographs sitting on the table—photographs of her target, meeting with another man at a diner. Stuck to the top of the photos was a post-it note with the word "Applesauce" written on it.

Annie immediately switched safehouses and destroyed all records of her previous identity, but she ran a search on the man in the photograph and learned he represented a private security company. It was an enormous revelation that opened up all sorts of possibilities in the investigation.

"Applesauce," though, seemed to have no connection whatsoever, until a week later when, during another dead-end period, Annie came home to find a man in a suit sitting in her NEW safehouse.

The man didn't even flinch as she whipped out her gun and pointed it at him. He just smiled "Applesauce." He said.

Annie's gun remained trained on him, but she arched an eyebrow. "So you're the one who broke into my old place."

"It was the best way to get the intel to you." The man extended his palms. "I mean, if I'd just handed them to you in person, you wouldn't have so much as looked at them."

"And who are you, exactly."

"Phil Coulson." The man gave a little wave. "Of SHIELD."

Annie's brow furrowed. "Is that supposed to make me trust you?"

"Given the climate right now? No." The man shrugged. "It's just a fact. Like I said, that's why we left the photos in your apartment instead of meeting. You wouldn't have relied on our intel if you knew the source. I'll be the first to admit that's SHIELD's looking pretty black right now." The smile became a bit more impish. "Not like the CIA, which has never had trouble with corruption or high-ranking traitors or..."

"The CIA isn't full of KGB operatives." Annie countered. "Corruption is one thing, large-scale infiltration by your sworn enemy is another."

"Fair enough." Coulson shrugged again. "But you haven't shot me, so... does that mean you're willing to accept that even though I'm from SHIELD, I might not be a bad guy?"

"Let's say I'm interested in learning how you tracked me down twice, and I think the CIA is likely to be interested too."

"It wasn't easy." Coulson admitted. "You have a very thorough cover set up here, and you avoid surveillance exceptionally well."

"Also, there's that." Annie frowned. "How did you get surveillance photos from a Turkish street cam? Not even the CIA can access those."

"Same answer as the first, actually. We've got a... very thorough I.T. department." Coulson seemed to be enjoying a private joke. "It helped that we were looking particularly for you. If we'd just been searching for a random person in Istanbul, I doubt anything would have come up."

Annie's brow furrowed again. "You were tracking me? Why?"

"Because we were given your name." Coulson paused for a moment, then leaned forward a little. "You're a very... unorthodox agent, aren't you Miss Walker?"

Annie shrugged. "I get the job done."

"I... get the feeling it's more than a job to you." Coulson shook his head. "I mean, let's face it, you're not in the CIA for America. I'm pretty sure you love your country, but that's not why you've gone rogue, put yourself in the dark from your own agency, and fostered relationships with agents from Mossad, KGB, MI6, and more organizations than I can count."

Annie said nothing, but she was very disturbed inside. Coulson was talking about extremely classified ops from several different governments. Exactly what kind of access did he have?

"Here's what I think, Ms. Walker." Coulson's smile was incredibly benign as he leaned forward. "I think you're a spy who cares more about her friends than about the respective agencies they belong to."

"Relationships are what define us." Annie said carefully.

"See, that." Coulson wagged a finger at her. "That's why I think we were given your name. Because so long as you trust the person, you don't care if they're from KGB or SHIELD or whatever."

"...maybe not." Annie admitted. "But you have to admit, that does make trust a bit more complicated. Why exactly should I trust you?"

Coulson shrugged and smiled. "I'm a really nice guy."

Annie stared at him a second. "Yeah. Gonna have to do better than that."

"I'm a really nice guy with reliable intel who didn't kidnap and interrogate you for valuable information." Coulson amended.

"Only so you could turn me. Still not enough."

"How would I turn you?" Coulson frowned. "You don't work for any one agency. You work for your friends. Who... just happen to be the top leadership of the CIA. But still. You'd leak info to Israel, Germany, or England, regardless of how it hurt America's reputation, if you felt it was the right thing to do."

Annie smiled. "That's speculation."

"My point is that I can't turn someone who doesn't care about agencies or divisions." Coulson argued. "No, I'm not asking you to come work for SHIELD."

"Not yet."

"...I'm just asking you to view us as one of the good guys."

"So that I'll leak you intel or eventually work for you once my agency burns me for consorting with a known fugitive," snorted Annie.

A shrug. "Wouldn't be the first time." Coulson started to stand.

"Don't." Annie clicked back the hammer on her pistol.

"Wow." Coulson eyed her. "You must really think I'm some sort of badass. I'm just getting up to leave."

"You're assuming I'm going to let you leave." Annie raised her eyebrows. "Wanted fugitive, remember?"

"Actually, that's... not really much of an assumption." Coulson smiled. "That's more a logical inference drawn from May having a gun to your head."

There was an audible click behind her. "We're not morons, you realize." A dry voice with a slightly asian accent intoned.

"For someone who wants to be friends, you have an odd definition of trust." Annie said, dropping her pistol.

"Well, we haven't had the opportunity to get to know each other yet." Coulson shrugged, standing. "But that'll change. For the moment..." He indicated a black manila folder sitting on the table. "Think of it as a friendly getting-to-know-you present."

* * *

Coulson showed up again another week later. This time, Annie didn't draw. "Do you already know where my case is going, or are you just going to feed me bits at a time to make me guess?"

Coulson smiled. "I don't really even know what your mission is." He answered. "I just have access to surveillance feeds that tell me who you're following and what he's doing. As far as feeding you bits goes..." He shrugged. "Baby steps."

"Yeah? Well this baby is done stepping." Annie dropped into a seat across from him. "I'm done taking whatever cryptic hints and points you chose to supply me with. From now on, you supply me with the intel I want, when I want it."

There was a definite twist to Coulson's smile. "Fine by me."

Annie couldn't help but feel a little unbalanced by how easily the man was taking this. "And no more nightly visits." She added. "I'm supposed to be in deep cover."

"Understood."

And Coulson left.

* * *

But despite that, Coulson did show up, once more, about a month later. This time, Annie was approaching not so much a dead end as a complete end—her investigation was wrapping up, she'd gotten nearly all the pieces in place. And while she didn't quite like how those pieces fit together, she was already preparing a full report for Langley... there were facts they HAD to know.

And then she walked through the front door and there was Coulson, sitting in the chair like before (not the same chair—Annie had moved several times since his last visit).

Rolling her eyes, Annie dropped her bag onto the table and stripped out of her coat. "I thought I told you to stay out of my mission."

"Really?" Coulson's brow furrowed. "Weird. I thought you told me to give you all the help I could with your mission. How's that worked out, by the way?"

Annie shrugged as she dropped into a chair across from Coulson. "Your 'Raven' handler is a little paranoid, but he's given solid intel. We've made some critical discoveries that the Agency will be very interested in. But then," she cocked her head at Coulson, "I suppose he's told you that."

"He's a consultant, actually. Doesn't report directly to me." Again the smile. "He did mention, though, that you were close to finishing your op and reporting back to your superiors."

"And you're worried about whether I'll tell them I've been working with professed terrorists for the past two months." Annie smirked at Coulson.

But Coulson seemed unaffected. "Well, either you tell them you were working with us and they give you a slap on the wrist, but note us down as a not-quite-evil source of information; or you don't tell them and continue to work with us." He shrugged. "Quite honestly, either outcome works for me."

"Or I tell them and we set a trap for you and yours." Annie countered. "Back-trace 'Raven's' signal and find your hidey-hole."

"Good luck with that." Coulson smiled. "Still. I'm getting the vibe that you're NOT going to kill the goose with the golden eggs."

"I'm the goose. You just happened to provide very good feed." Annie admitted. "THIS time. If I ever get the slightest feeling you're playing me..."

"You're a spy." Coulson nodded. "I get it. Kinda been around the whole cloak-and-dagger thing for a while myself. But I assure you: we just want to help. Not that you'll believe me, because..."

"...I'm a spy." Annie finished, with a wry grin, feeling a slight twinge of conscience for being amused by the man. "Fine, I'll consider it. But why are you really here?"

"Just wanted to say goodbye and give you a few extra goodies to go home with." Coulson seemed to reconsider his words. "Well... the first is a goodie. The second is... really more of a... bad-ie, I guess. A warning."

"Let's hear the good stuff first then." Annie shrugged.

"Fine." Coulson pulled a phone from his coat. On it was a picture of an extremely blonde woman. "New agent in your division. Sharon Carter. Former SHIELD agent."

Annie studied the picture carefully, memorizing the woman's features. "One of yours?"

"Not anymore." Coulson laid the phone on the table between them.

"One of Hydra's?"

"Honestly? No idea. Her aunt was one of the founding members of SHIELD and she was attached to Captain America's private security detail, so it seems unlikely but..." a twinge of pain crossed Coulson's face, "...I've been surprised before. She definitely doesn't work for us, and I doubt she'd appreciate me popping up in her new life just as she's trying to establish credibility in the CIA."

"So... why bring her up?" Annie took the words with a grain of salt; she doubted Coulson would go so far as tell her about any infiltrators he had in the CIA.

Coulson indicated the phone. "All the data SHIELD collected on her is in that phone. Work profiles, psyche assessments, mission histories..."

"All of which has been released on the internet already." Annie pointed out.

"Sure it has." Coulson smiled. "Searching through all that information is such a simple task, too. Not likely to miss anything." Again he gestured at the phone. "Use it, don't use it, double-check the facts—all up to you. Make your own call about whether Sharon's a danger to the CIA."

"Thanks. I will." Annie picked up the phone and pocketed it, inwardly vowing to have Auggie take it apart later. "And the warning?"

Coulson leaned closer. "You've been undercover for a while, so you may not be aware of this—the US, along with the CIA, recently started outsourcing its surveillance feeds to a private security firm."

"I'd heard." Annie nodded; it'd come up during her investigation. "Your point?"

"Having someone who watches the watchmen isn't always such a great idea." Coulson warned. "Especially if they don't like what the watchmen are seeing. Before you go back to Langley... maybe use your time undercover to poke into the facts around that particular corporation."

"Noted." Annie's face betrayed nothing. "You going to give me a file on that too?"

Coulson gave a light chuckle as he stood. "No, Ms. Walker," he said, passing into the darkness, "that's something that you have to see for yourself to believe."

* * *

**A/N:** I wanted to get this section of Recruitment Drive off before the season premiere, as I understand from promos that it shows Annie coming back from a deep cover op that she's very cagey about, so it struck me as being a perfect recruitment opportunity. Doubtless when the new season premieres all this will be rendered invalid, but I tried to make it vague enough to work. Time will tell, I guess.

Unlike the last one, this isn't going to go through different members of the show. Annie is the only one likely to get 'recruited,' and it's going to be a rather gradual process. The next chapter should feature Sharon Carter.


	2. Assets

**Assets**

"Your target." Calder Michaels slid a picture of a familiar-looking blonde across the table to her. "Sharon Carter, the new girl here. She's a former SHIELD agent."

"You think she's connected to the Chicago bombing?" Annie said, glancing up at the man.

"Unlikely." Calder shook his head. "She's only been in the agency for a month or so. Enough time to learn the protocols necessary for Chicago, yes, but she's too new—too obvious. No spy would risk an attack so soon after joining the agency."

Annie nodded as she scanned the file, her mind already working at top speed. It simply wasn't possible for Coulson to have known she would be assigned to this case. Calder wouldn't have even known she'd be available for this until a week ago. Still..."Are we sure she's not in communication with... her old bosses? Or anyone from her past agency?" Annie asked, carefully.

"We've had her under surveillance since day one." Calder answered. "If she is, the agents following her haven't noticed. But maybe she's just that good."

Annie frowned and closed the file. "So basically, there's no reason to suspect she's connected with the Chicago bombing."

"We're following every possible avenue on this one, Annie." Calder's tone was level and his eyes were hard. "No stone unturned."

"I understand that and I agree." Annie nodded. "But I was under the impression that you wanted—and needed—me on point for this investigation."

"I do and I do." Calder's gaze was calculating, and Annie could tell he knew what was coming.

"So why are you sending me on this longshot?" Annie tapped the picture meaningfully. "Is this still about your 'questions' on my four month vacation?"

Calder's eyes grew even harder. "Make no mistake, you and I are not finished discussing that particular 'vacation,' Walker." He snapped. "I was not and I am not pleased with you apparently assuming I'm stupid enough not to tell when you're lying to me. But if you think that I'm the particular brand of petty that would deny justice to twenty good agents blown apart in their own safehouse..." He didn't finish the sentence.

Annie winced internally, but carefully hid it. "So what IS this about?"

"I want you on the Chicago task force, and you'll be on it." Calder answered. "But there are some protocols to follow here. Among other things, anyone associated with the Chicago incident has to undergo a thorough vetting."

Annie blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"Let me put it this way." Calder cocked his head on one side. "What would be your first thought regarding the only agent to survive a savage, well-planned bombing on one of our offices? The only agent to conveniently be outside the building when the bomb went off? Particularly if that agent was fresh from an unsanctioned 4-month hiatus which she gave a most unsatisfying account of."

"So this IS about you being petty."

"This is about me following protocols so I don't have to explain to the DCS or to Congress that I don't bother investigating my friends." Calder answered. "Do I think you had anything to do with Chicago? No, but that doesn't change a damn thing about what needs to be done. Same thing with Agent Carter." He sat back and gestured to indicate the briefing was over. "Sift through her life, Annie. And get your affairs in order, because there will be plenty of people doing the same thing to you."

* * *

Following Sharon Carter started off fairly easily. Each day after work, she went out to eat—the restaurants varied but she seemed to favor chicken alfredo—then walked along the national mall and visited one of the capital's war memorials. Usually, it was the WWII monument, but occasionally she stopped by the Korean and Vietnam memorials too. Then she would go straight home. The bugs Annie and Aggie had planted in her apartment indicated that she spent quiet evenings reading a book.

"It's sorta weird she's not listening to any music or anything." Annie observed, binoculars to her eyes, as they watched from the apartment across the street.

"Yeah." Aggie nodded, headphones about his ears and a puzzled frown on his face. "She could hardly be masking any discussions or transmissions with fake silence, though."

"Unless SHIELD has some sound-dampening gadget we don't know about." Annie frowned through the binoculars at the girl. "By the way," She said, glancing up, "Any hits on that name I asked you to run?"

"Phil Coulson? A few. None that connect to Sharon Carter, though." Auggie answered. "And nothing from SHIELD."

"Nothing?" Annie blinked at him.

"I'm still working my way through all the SHIELD data." Auggie pointed out. "There's a lot of it, you realize. I've been at it for several months and I still haven't gotten further than the past year and a half."

Annie returned to her binoculars, her mind racing. "Then what did you find?"

"Well it's kind of a common name." Auggie deadpanned. "But the most interesting hits were some news articles from a New Mexico town about a federal team in the region, and also a plaque from Stark Tower that was added after the Battle of New York... 'In memory of the sacrifice of Phil Coulson.'"

"Interesting." A famous name... maybe her visitor had chosen it out of nostalgia, or in hopes she would recognize it? "Any elaboration on that? Press releases from Stark or anything?"

"No, actually. That's what made it so interesting, Stark never made any sort of formal announcement about the plaque. No fanfare at all."

"That is weird." Annie agreed.

"Yeah. Especially if the other rumors are true... apparently the next tower Stark's building, over in Oregon, is supposed to be called 'Coulson Tower.'" Auggie gave a shake of his head. "Whoever the guy is, he clearly meant a lot to Stark." He gave an inquisitive tilt of his head toward Annie. "Don't suppose you could tell me where you heard the name?"

"Came up during my little sabbatical." Annie hated how easily she could lie to her friends these days. "Wasn't a credible or immediate problem, so I didn't pursue it, but I made a note to check up on the name."

"Like the phon e you had me take apart?"

Annie winced. Auggie didn't see it, but he could read a silence like few people. "Annie, you like your secrets, you always have. Goodness knows I've kept a few stories of my own close to the chest, but if I'm supposed to be helping you as your handler, you need to tell me what I'm handling."

He was right, and Annie knew he was right. But it didn't change the fact that there were some things that she couldn't explain to Auggie. Not yet, anyway.

So she went for a compromise.

"It was... toward the end." She hedged. "I'd been laying low, de-stressing and figuring some stuff out when I overheard these two guys talking in a bar. They mentioned the name Coulson, SHIELD, and something about the CIA." She sighed at the way Auggie's brow furrowed. "I wouldn't have noticed, except they were speaking in a form of Italian. I got the gist, but not details."

"And the phone?"

"Palmed it off one of them as he was leaving." Annie felt another twist at how easily lying came to her. "There was no info of value on it, and they have to know it was compromised by now. But it woke me up and brought me back to the agency double time."

"I see." Auggie said, and Annie got the feeling he didn't entirely believe her. But he simply shrugged and turned back to his computer. "Calder still has me sorting and cataloguing the SHIELD data. If he comes up in there, I'll let you know." He promised.

* * *

On the weekend, Annie followed the blonde around town. The woman dropped off laundry, stopped at a coffee shop, dropped by a veterans rest home—Annie made a mental note to check up on "Peggy Carter" later—ate lunch, went shopping, picked up her laundry, dropped it off at the house, went to another coffee-shop...

It was the third coffee-shop that finally did it for Annie. She was sitting at a cafe across the street, watching her target sip coffee nonchalantly at a window seat.

"This is ridiculous." She said suddenly, standing to her feet. "Auggie, I'm going in."

_"What? Annie, are you sure that's..."_

But Annie was already walking across the street. She saw Carter glance up at her, but her eyes passed on without seeming to take any particular note of the agent. Annie snorted and pushed open the door.

"_I hope you know what you're doing here, Annie."_ Auggie sounded genuinely nervous.

Carter looked up as Annie sat down across from her. "...Can I help you?"

"This is a waste of time for both of us." Annie said. "No one loves coffee this much, and no one's life is this boring. Now I don't know when you made me or my partner, but I know a snow job when I see one. Doing routine errands all day? Walking slowly, taking public transit everywhere? Always sitting by a window? It's like you want to be followed."

Carter's mouth twisted.

"So." Annie shrugged. "I figure I might as well get some good intel out of it. What gave me away? That waiting line at the store? Last night at the diner? Some high-tech SHIELD gadget you've got?"

Carter set down her coffee mug carefully. "Actually, I didn't know you were tailing me." She answered.

"Seriously?" Annie raised her eyebrows. "Have a bit more respect for my intelligence than that."

"I didn't." Carter insisted. "You're pretty good, for CIA. Certainly better than the guys they had last week. I did notice that the vacant apartment across from my place finally got a renter, though." Leaning back, Carter shrugged. "But I didn't need to see you. I pretty much expected to be under surveillance once I joined the CIA." She considered this a moment. "I would have been insulted if I wasn't, honestly."

_"She's got a point." _Auggie conceded.

"Even after the guys from last week disappeared?"

Again Carter shrugged. "It's routine in SHIELD to keep surveillance on new agents for two months, and I'm pretty sure that the CIA is at least that careful about ex-Nazis." There was a trace of bitterness to the last words.

_"Ouch. Girl's got a sore spot."_ Auggie noted.

Annie smiled understandingly. "Still attached to the old division, aren't you?"

Carter looked away, whether from anger or embarrassment, Annie couldn't tell. "My aunt was one of SHIELD's founders, so yeah, you could say it's personal. She's been really upset about how the division's name has been dragged through the mud, recently... some commentators have even been suggesting that she was Hydra and contributed to Cap's 'death.'" Her lip curled.

That made Annie genuinely wince. "Commentators aren't known for their intelligence." She said, hoping to sound conciliatory.

"The thing is, most of SHIELD wasn't Hydra." Carter crossed her arms, still staring out the window. "Just a minority of highly placed and highly skilled agents who caught us with our pants down. That whole mess at the Triskelion? A lot of good SHIELD agents died trying to keep those helicarriers from taking off." A sigh. "And now a whole lot more are tied up in court hearings or hamstringed in desk jobs while Hydra has the run of the world."

Annie nodded. "What about Agent Coulson?"

Carter looked back at her in surprise. "What about him?"

_"Have I mentioned this is a bad idea?"_ Auggie asked.

"We came across his name recently in our intel." Annie answered. "Did you know him?"

Carter laughed a little at that. "Agent Coulson? Not really. He was level 8, significantly above my pay grade. I met him once." She paused. "I think. It was when Fury picked me for Cap's security detail. There was a balding middle-aged guy standing in the corner, and after Fury was done talking to me he shook my hand and said, 'Welcome to the team.'"

"So he was close to the director of SHIELD?" Annie asked. The description matched up with the man she'd met, but there had to be plenty of balding middle-aged men out there.

This time, Carter almost snorted. "That's an understatement. Coulson was something of a legend in SHIELD... Fury's 'one good eye,' they called him. He was attached to the Avengers Initiative and half-a-dozen other of Fury's pet projects."

Annie blinked rapidly. "Coulson was an Avenger?"

"_This guy was a superhero?"_ Auggie questioned, nearly at the same time.

Carter seemed puzzled, then her face cleared. "Oh, no, no. He was the liason, responsible for bringing them in. He was in charge of the First Contact scenario in New Mexico and was later attached to Captain America's crew."

_"That's what the news articles from New Mexico were about."_ Auggie sounded contemplative. _"I should have made that connection."_

"So... Hydra? Or SHIELD?"

Carter shrugged. "Who knows? I mean, he had a reputation for being a softie completely devoted to SHIELD's mission, and people said he was one of the few folks Fury actually trusted, but..."

"...that could also have been said of Alexander Pierce." Annie finished wryly. She was starting to see the difficulty with this op. Then something hit her. "You keep saying 'had', 'was', 'called.' Did... something happen?"

That earned her a very strange look. "You don't know?" Annie just stared back. Carter gave a half-laugh and muttered something under her breath.

_"I heard that."_ Auggie, whose hearing was of course much better, sounded vaguely amused.

"Agent Coulson died." Carter said, more loudly. "Shortly before the battle of New York. The details were... sketchy. Some folks said he took a bullet in an alley somewhere, others that he was killed testing some protoype for Fury, others that he was stabbed in the chest by a Norse god."

Annie arched an eyebrow.

"Some jobs at SHIELD were more interesting than others." Carter shrugged.

"Sounds like it." Annie nodded, her face carefully blank.

"_Actually the Norse god thing makes sense."_ Auggie spoke up. _"At least one is supposed to have been involved in New York. It would explain why Stark felt so strongly about Coulson... the man died trying to hold them off."_ A little snort came through the earpiece. _"Hey Annie. You think the CIA's supposed to handle Norse gods now that SHIELD isn't around?"_

"Strange you bring Coulson up." Carter mentioned, before Annie could devote much thought to Auggie's question. "You say his name popped up in intel recently? How recently? In connection with what?"

Annie was very conscious of Auggie on the other side of her earpiece. "A few weeks ago. As for the connection, I'm afraid I can't say."

"So it's a relevant matter. Connected to something current, ongoing." Carter looked pensive. She started to say something, hesitated, then said, "About... three weeks before everything at SHIELD..." She gestured. "...went pear-shaped, I heard a rumor. People were saying Coulson was back."

Annie raised an eyebrow. "As in, back from the dead?"

_"Sounds like you have a lot in common with this guy."_

"Is that normal in SHIELD?" Annie asked.

"What, you mean people rising up from the grave?" Carter's mouth quirked in a sardonic smile. "No. If you mean agents' deaths being faked so they could lead private ghost op programs independently of SHIELD, then it really depends on who you believe. Some people took Fury at face value, others said every single agent who'd ever 'died' was actually just transferred into a take-your-pick secret organization answering only to Fury. SWORD, ARMOR, you name it."

"Clever titles."

A shrug. "No one ever accused conspiracy theorists of being original." Carter sighed. "Probably the truth was somwhere in the middle. Fury did like to compartamentalize things, and he wasn't big on sharing control with the World Council."

"Funny how that worked out for him." Annie noted.

She got a glare in answer. "Whatever else you hear, Fury had nothing to do with Hydra. Why do you think he was the first casualty in the takeover? His way of... handling things likely made it harder for Hydra to extend control."

"And easier to escape notice." Annie shook her head and reminded herself that this was not the point. "And Coulson?"

Carter was still glaring, but she too seemed willing to drop the subject. "The details surrounding his death were always very sketchy. But at the same time, they were TOO sketchy. If it was a cover-up, it was a very sloppy cover-up."

"Bottom line, you don't know."

"Bottom line." Carter nodded.

Annie considered this a moment. "Come on." She said, standing up.

"Excuse me?" Carter quirked an eyebrow.

"You going to sit here filling your bladder all day, or are you going to do some real spy work?" Annie asked.

"_Annie, what are you doing_?" Auggie's voice had a mixture of dread and resignation.

Carter's brow wrinkled in confusion, but she got up and followed Annie out of the coffeeshop. The two of them crossed the street, straight to a black pest-control van on the far side. Annie threw the doors open, and there was Auggie, sitting at a listening station.

Slowly, he removed the headphones, and turned to face them, eyes staring sightlessly down the street. "Agent Carter." He nodded. "Annie, you wanna tell me what the hell is going on?"

"Agent Anderson?" Carter's eyes were round. "And you're Annie? As in Annie Walker? What kind of crazy badass does the CIA think I am?"

"This tailing job is a waste of time." Annie snorted, climbing into the van and motioning to Carter to follow. "If we're being asked to vet Agent Carter here, we might as well do it by putting her SHIELD smarts to good use."

"Meaning what?" Auggie asked, brow furrowed. Carter had a similarly confused expression.

Annie was already climbing into the driver's seat. "We're going to dig up a grave."

* * *

**A/N:** That took a little bit longer than I expected. I wanted to wait until the season premiere, though, so that I could line up this chapter's events with Annie being back at work in the CIA. (Incidentally, the plot for this season looks fairly transparent-unless that's what they WANT me to think). There's a good deal of exposition in this chapter, but hopefully it's enjoyable anyway.

I don't intend to try and fit other chapters into the season's structure. So just assume all subsequent events take place between episodes 1 and 2 of this season.


	3. Working Partners

**Working Partners**

Finding and digging up Coulson's grave turned out to be more complicated than Annie had envisioned.

"How can you not know where this Phil Coulson's grave is?" Auggie demanded.

"I told you." Carter shot back. "Everything surrounding his death was sketchy, funeral arrangements included. It's not like I personally knew him. Could you tell me where every CIA agent was buried?"

"Is there anything useful you _can_ tell us?" Annie asked.

Carter seemed to hesitate. "I know where Fury is buried." She said at length. "Like I said, Coulson was pretty close to him, it's possible they were buried in the same area."

* * *

"The path of the righteous man..." Annie mused. "Ezekiel 25:17"

Auggie paused in mid-step, contemplating. "That's not a real verse." He announced. "Carter, is that some sort of SHIELD pass code or something?"

"Not so far as I know." Carter was picking her way among the gravestones surrounding Fury's. "Fury had it on a plaque in his office... 'you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you' or somesuch. Maybe it unlocks some secret room in a library somewhere, but if so, I never ran across it. Fury liked people to ask about it, I know that much. He'd just smile and say it was an old story."

"Ah." Auggie nodded. "Sounds like an enigmatic bastard."

"Oh, you have NO idea." Carter snorted. "Let's see... Jones, Dugan... here! Here it is. Coulson."

Annie and Auggie went over to where Carter was kneeling beside a plain-looking tombstone. It read simply, "Phillip Coulson," and below that the dates, "1964-2012"

"Nothing else?" Auggie asked, as Annie read off the words on the stone. "No 'in the line of duty,' or 'beloved brother' or anything like that?"

"He probably didn't have any family." Carter was staring at the stone with a curious expression. "SHIELD tends to attract a certain sort of... individual."

Annie glanced at her but said nothing.

"The ground here smells... fresh." Auggie said, sniffing. Carefully, he knelt and felt at the earth.

Annie knelt beside him. "This turf has just been laid down." She noted. "Someone must have dug up this grave recently." She glanced up at Carter. "Is that normal?"

Carter sent her a look. "You're kidding, right?"

"Well, we don't know." Auggie answered drily. 'SHIELD might have had some kind of Frankenstein project pending." He stood to his feet. "Well, if it wasn't SHIELD, we should be able to find a report of whoever it was."

* * *

"Thanks." Auggie tapped the side of his headset to end the call. "All right. Turns out the police were called to the cemetery a month or so ago for a grave robbery."

"Grave robbery."

"Yeah, the investigating detective thought it was a real hoot." Auggie nodded. "Apparently some guy found the grave dug up and the casket opened and empty."

"Did SHIELD have a vampire program?" Annie asked.

"Not that Coulson was connected to." Carter sighed. She seemed to be getting sick of all the SHIELD jokes.

"The witness did say he saw someone climbing out of the grave as he approached." Auggie added. "But it wasn't Phil Coulson. It was a woman. He made this sketch for the authorities." A few clicks, and the image came up on the screen.

Annie recognized her instantly. She'd been with Coulson at the safehouse. Glancing over at Carter, she asked, "Anybody you know?"

Carter started. "That's..." She leaned in for a better look. "Melinda May. The Calvary."

Annie glanced over at her. The woman's tone was shocked, with maybe a touch of awe. "Pardon?"

Shaking off whatever nostalgia had seized her, Carter looked up at Annie. "She used to be in operations. Something of a legend. If a team needed rescuing, or if they really wanted to hit a place hard, they'd send in 'the Calvary.'" She gestured at the picture. "I mean, I'm not bad in operations myself, but May... she was up there with Barton and Romanov."

"You say 'used to be?'" Auggie asked.

"She retired to a desk job. Some time after I joined up."

"Hydra? SHIELD?" Annie asked.

"Again, that sort of thing is anyone's guess." Carter shrugged. "But I can't see a Hydra agent giving up an operations role for a menial bureaucratic job like the one she took."

"Neither of which answers what she was doing digging up Coulson's grave and stealing his body."

"Actually that's part of what the detective found so funny." Auggie cut in. "They closed the case because analysis revealed no one had ever been in that coffin. Your girl dug up an empty casket."

"Damn it." Carter shook her head. "I should have known. I really should have known."

Annie was pretty sure she knew what the ex-SHIELD agent was going to say. "Coulson never died at all, did he?"

"Looks like it." Carter had a visibly annoyed expression. "I still don't understand the lousy false cover, but... maybe it was a reverse-psychology thing."

"Guess we have another name to add to the watch list." Auggie smiled ruefully.

Carter gave a reluctant nod. "For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure this means Coulson isn't Hydra." She noted. "All this dodgy stuff with false covers and empty coffins has Fury's fingers all over it. And there's no way Fury would have done this much for someone he didn't absolutely trust."

Annie nodded. "And, for what it's worth, I'm now pretty sure you aren't either." She gave Carter a smile. "You've been more than forthcoming with info and you've helped us nose down every lead in this case."

"Good to be trusted again." Carter smiled back.

"I trust you. Doesn't mean the CIA will." Annie noted. "But for now..." She held out her hand, "...welcome to the team."

* * *

**A/N: **Agh. I don't like this chapter. Lots of exposition and nothing new. But it needed to be done, it's late, and I'm just going to post it up and maybe change some stuff around later. Like the Bible verse. I considered having the team recognize the Pulp Fiction reference, but then I decided I liked it better if Pulp Fiction didn't exist in the MCU, and Nick Fury, instead of referencing a favorite movie or something, was instead making a private joke. Possibly based in "Pulp Fiction" as a real event.

Carter, by the way, should show up eventually in my "Variations on the Death of Coulson" story, which is somewhat connected to the Recruitment Drive series.

Also, again I'd like to promote the survey I'm doing for my Fanfiction Research project. Here's the link: forms/d/10gV3dZPVRXHYCdanvLQ1irptSdcjJBo3F3VwOMI8jvM/viewform?usp=send_form Cut and paste that into your browser (take out the space between " " and "doc") and just take a few quick moments to fill it out. It's really quick, mostly multiple choice, and at the end you can view the results thus far, which have actually been really interesting.


	4. Strange Bedfellows

**Strange Bedfellows**

* * *

It was maybe a week after that, after the whole mess in South America and her getting suspended and put on desk duty, that Annie came home to find Coulson, sitting in her living room.

"Most people call before showing up." She said, stalking past him to the kitchen.

"I'm not most people." Coulson shrugged.

"Clearly. How'd you like being dead?" Annie grabbed two beers and tossed one to Coulson.

"Honestly, I don't remember much of it. I gather that was rather the point." Coulson caught the beer but did not open it. "Generally, being dead doesn't involve a lot of action."

"Speak for yourself." Annie grinned. "I got a LOT done while I was dead."

Coulson's brow furrowed. "Admittedly I'm guessing here, but I'm pretty sure our deaths were wildly different." He arched an eyebrow at her as she sat down. "Seriously, don't you have any other questions?"

"Only one that you're likely to answer." Annie answered. "What-exactly-are you up to with SHIELD? Aren't you guys dissolved?"

Coulson leaned back and smiled. "I never did explain that, did I." He mused. For a moment he considered, as if gathering his thoughts. "SHIELD is dissolved." He said at last. "SHIELD as it was, anyway. But there are those of us who-no offense-feel that we can better serve world peace outside of senate commissary hearings."

"Saw that on the news." Carter rolled her eyes. "'Yes, I just destroyed a federal agency, but because of that, you're helpless before me, so you can't prosecute for completely destroying a federal agency.'"

Coulson winced. "Agent Romanov has a... direct manner." He admitted. "The rest of us are a bit more circumspect. SHIELD served a legitimate purpose, once. We're trying to get it back on tracks."

A slow smile crept over Annie's face. "Agents without an agency."

"With a self-made agency." Coulson corrected. "SHIELD still exists, it's just... not a governmental organization anymore, more like a... really cool club with awesome agents and really slick toys."

"Sounds like fun."

"It is." Coulson shrugged. "By the way, how's agent Carter?"

"On your side, so far as I can tell. Whether or not the both of you are Hydra remains to be seen." Annie shrugged.

"Really? I thought you said you trusted her."

Annie glanced at him sharply. "And how did you know that?"

Coulson shrugged and smiled.

Shaking her head, Annie downed her own beer. "There was nothing to be gained from keeping her an enemy. Better to make her think she's fooled me. Might let her guard down. Or might turn out to be genuinely honest." Annie shrugged. "Who knows. Going on instincts, I trust her, but instincts don't make good security clearances."

"And what do your instincts say about me?" Coulson raised his eyebrows.

Annie looked at him. "You're friendly enough. And you seem very genuine. And I can't deny you've been a useful asset."

"None of those sound very instinctive." Coulson pointed out.

A roll of the eyes. "Fine. Then my instincts say you're to be trusted."

A grin crept up Coulson's face. "Sure you're not just saying that because there's nothing to be gained from keeping me an enemy?"

Annie gave a sweet smile in return. "If you're not going to believe what I say, why did you even ask?" She sipped her beer. "Besides, my instincts say McQuaid's a decent guy too, and I gathered you don't like him."

"McQuaid himself might be decent, I don't know." Coulson shrugged. "His company, though... they're up to something."

"According to the Agency, _you're_ up to something." Annie pointed out.

"Fair enough." Coulson smiled. "In any case, I think we've proven that we're a useful resource, and that our help thus far has been... useful."

"Useful, sure. But I try not to lean too hard on my outside sources." Annie gave him a tight grin. "Just tends to be unwise. I'm glad to have you guys as a backup, but don't expect any favors from me. For all intents and purposes, I'm still a girl for the Agency."

"But the Agency's cut you out," pressed Coulson, leaning forward. "Are you sure you wouldn't want an agency in your corner, so long as you're sidelined?"

"I'm not sidelined." Annie raised a hand. "Just out of the field. I'm still involved, just..." she kicked at the end table, "...bored to tears."

"Can't help with the boredom, I'm afraid." Coulson shook his head. "Well, I mean, if you're REALLY bored you could always steal information from the CIA for me, but I feel you might object to that."

"Don't you get info from the CIA already?"

"Just one of the SHIELD hunters the Agency is always siccing on us. Old friend of mine. Keeps me up to date on who the good agents and who the bad agents are." Coulson glanced at the pictures on the wall.

"Oh really? And which am I?"

"Good." Coulson blinked and amended that, "As in, capable-good, not friendly-to-SHIELD-good. And by the way, it's not just him saying that, that's a pretty well-known fact across the intelligence community."

"That's not good." Annie frowned. "Being well-known is something you try to avoid in this sort of job. Tends to lead to an early retirement plan."

Coulson looked at her significantly. "You plan to retire?"

Annie stopped and looked at him. It was a simple enough question, but they both knew it had a hugely complex answer. Spies didn't retire. At best, they led a watchful life constantly glancing over their shoulder at an invisible job in some anonymous town, or else devoted their declining years to administering the missions they could no longer run, like Joan and Arthur. At worst, they ended in a jail cell or face down in a Viennese gutter.

But Annie smiled and gave a careless shrug. "Too young to plan for retirement yet." She answered lightly. "Some wild ideas here and there..." she bit back a thought about a suggestion Auggie had once made about a Carribean island, "...but nothing concrete yet." Apart from the fake passports and illegal firearm stashed in her safe at home.

Coulson nodded as if he believed her. "Take it from someone who's been around the spy game longer than you have." His gentle smile robbed the words of any patronization. "Generally, spy stories end with the hero-slash-heroine on the run from their own agency, until they fake their death so they can live the rest of their days in some anonymous far-off locale."

"Did that already." Annie nodded. "Came back from it."

"But some day you might not want to." Coulson suggested. "Some day you might find that you have no reason to go back—or more likely—that your friends are better off believing you're dead."

"Where I absorb the blame for something and 'take one for the company?'" Annie gave an odd smile. "It seems unlikely, but... I can think of worse endings. But why should it make a difference to you?"

Coulson shrugged, standing. "Well, if you 'died' and for some reason still wanted to stay in the spy game... though I'm sure you'd have no lack of opportunities—any foreign intelligence agency would jump to obtain someone with your connections—I guess I'd just... like to add SHIELD to the list of potential employers."

"Really?" Annie wrinkled her nose. "A down-and-out spy agency without funding and with dubious ties to a Nazi conspiracy? What possible reason would I have for joining?"

Coulson smiled. "Well, we wouldn't be in direct competition with the CIA, for one. We'd still be serving America's security, if not exclusively. Smaller probability of having to shoot one of your old friends. And then there's the fact that you now know the new director."

Annie looked at him, uncomprehending at first, before a flash of understanding lit up her face.

Coulson moved toward the door. "Keep it in mind. Work with Agent Carter, get to know her and what SHIELD used to be, keep tabs on us and see what we're building SHIELD into. And if you decide you want to be a part of shaping that... give us a call."

"I'll keep you in my contacts." Annie smiled. "Anything further?"

"Just one." Coulson paused in the doorway and looked at her with something akin to concern. "Do your friends know about your... condition?"

Annie's head snapped up. She should have guessed, really. After all, Coulson had clearly been tracking her during her unofficial sabbatical. Of course he would know about the doctor visits, about the diagnosis.

The fact that he wasn't using that to blackmail her was actually a strong point in his favor.

Slowly, Annie's head sank back down, and she stared at the glass in her hand. "You know I haven't told them." She answered. "They'd just take it the wrong way."

"Give them a try." Coulson suggested. "They're spies, after all—death is one of the nicer things they deal with. And trust me, the last thing you want is to be dying slumped against a bulkhead while you think of all the things you never said."

"You would know." Annie smiled wanly.

"I also know about recovering from death-like conditions." Coulson's face was grave. "We have some of the best doctors in the world and specialized equipment that no other organization has. If you came to us... we might be able to offer treatment. No promises, but no strings attached either."

Annie said nothing for a long moment. She shot occasional glances at Coulson's face and studied the tips of her fingers. Finally, slowly, she shook her head.

"Yeah, that's what I figured." Coulson gave a weary smile. "Still, if you change your mind..."

"...I'll call you." Annie waved. "See you later, Phil."


End file.
